iPad Integration - Teaching vs Creation

School technology is becoming more and more advanced. Students and teachers are being provided access, and tools that provide opportunities that have never existed before. iPads are one of the primary tools that can be seen in students hands. These devices can be looked at in multiple ways. In my experience, these thoughts can be distilled into two major topics.

iPads for Teaching

The most common vision that I see for iPads is that they are for teaching students. There are hundreds of thousands of apps available that teach content. They use color, flash, or games to engage students while teaching them concepts in the background. Teachers who hold this as their belief have iPads that are filled with tons of apps. They are probably grouped in folders based on the content that they teach.

iPads for Creating

iPads make for a one of a kind creation tool. Other tablets and devices come close, but do not have the access that comes with an iPad. The access to the microphone and camera through the countless easy to use creation apps make this a one stop shop for your students. In my opinion, this is the ONLY use for these devices!

Which one is Better?

There is a right answer to this, and it is using iPads for creating. When you are using them to "teach" students, at best you are providing them low level task work in an engaging environment. It provides you are a false sense of hope that you are truly teaching students.

Lets simply break down the management of these two styles. iPads for creating uses a base set of creation apps. Seesaw, iMovie, Paper 53, Tellagami could be some example of these apps. The time it takes to teach your students how to use these 10-15 apps is very minimal. Also, these apps are highly used which means that they update very minimally. iPads for teaching is the exact opposite. Let's pretend for a moment that you have just 20 "teaching" apps. This is a small number compared to what I have seen in classrooms! You have the spend the time to teach your students how to use each and every app. That alone is taking away 25% more teaching time from your instructional block. These apps are prone to regular updates and pop up/add distractions. These take time to fix and distract students from the content.

This belief is not one that is singular to iPads. Any technology in students hands can result in this outlook on technology. Choose to have your students creating authentic deep meaning rather than be babysat by an engaging screen.